We've got our eye trained on developments like 3D printing and downloadable design, which are poised to downsize the ecological footprint of products and building. Take this recent installation by London-based designers Pablo Zamorano, Nacho Marti and German Jacob Bek: a zero-waste structure that uses computer-aided design to help determine the most efficient way to cut and form individual flat pieces of material into a beautifully-patterned structure that requires no secondary supports.

Pablo Zamorano, Nacho Marti and Jacob Bek/via

Created for the recent SPOGA furniture design exhibition in Cologne, Germany, the project is part of an ongoing research into so-called "Expandable Surface Systems," and was done in collaboration with the Emergent Technologies and Design Programme at London's Architectural Association. The designers describe the project's process via a tip submission:

Through a novel fabrication process, we developed a method to achieve zero waste of material and dispense the need for additional formwork. Along with this material process, a parametric computational tool was created to find the required cutting pattern to achieve a specific geometry. Both modes of fabrication and computation were based on material properties to ensure the system's structural and construction feasibility.

Pablo Zamorano, Nacho Marti and Jacob Bek/via

Looking at the video of how the cutting patterns are determined, it seems like each surface is treated like a deformable carapace of sorts that can be endlessly adjusted depending on the required end result: